


Adagio For Strings

by Lananiuska



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29427000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lananiuska/pseuds/Lananiuska
Summary: After overcoming what she thought was the worst event life could throw at her, Regina finally found her happiness, with Robin. But what happens when the past comes calling back, and everything she built comes crumbling down?
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Robin Hood
Comments: 31
Kudos: 25





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so somehow, someway, I ended up with two gifts for LoveFromOQ. This is the second one and it will be an intro to a multi chapter story. I have to warn you: the plot will have some angst and some hard subjects like depression, violence, and substance abuse, among others. There will be also be some flashbacks and a very complicated backstory! Anyway, the story was inspired by an amazing book called One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins, so if you can, go read it.
> 
> Huge thanks to Morgan for the beta work and Tiffany and Audrey for brainstorming with me and giving me the push to go for it. Lisa, I hope you like this second gift, even if it is just the beginning.

It took Regina Mills a little over two years to finally start crawling out of the hole life had so unmercifully thrown her into. Two years for her to stop being consumed by grief, pain, and yes, why not admit it? Guilt about the events surrounding her husband's death.

Sure, there were days when she couldn't help it and she would wake up thinking about him, wondering what would have happened if she had acted any differently on the fateful night he disappeared, but the truth was that those moments were more scarce with every day that passed.

There were the mandatory questions, as those were stubborn and wouldn't completely go away. Questions like: would he have left their apartment in a fury if she had been more understanding? Or even before that, if she had done things this way or the other, would he still be alive?

Those thoughts were draining and all-consuming, and she didn't think she would ever get rid of them, but overall, she could say that she left the worst of it behind her.

Her days were no longer dark, her nights didn't drag on for endless eternities, and she didn't feel so empty inside that she couldn't find the strength to do even the most simple of tasks, be it getting out of bed, eating… breathing…

It hadn't been easy to prevail over all of what she went through, and it took a lot of willpower to even start trying. She basically hit rock bottom, and that was a hard thing to overcome.

Widowed at twenty-five, she had been broken, emotionally destroyed and mentally drained. At her worse, her family and friends even feared she would do something stupid and they had basically refused to leave her side.

They wouldn't openly say it in her presence, but she knew they all conspired to remove all sharp objects from her reach, and they silently emptied her bathroom of anything she could swallow to go into an eternal sleep. They would also constantly check on her, dragging the blankets from her body if she remained in bed too long to corroborate that she was still there, alive and unharmed.

They worried in vain, as the thought of doing any kind of self-harm never crossed her mind. Yes, she had been devastated, and sometimes she wished she would just die. However, she never considered doing it herself.

Even if she had wanted to, the truth was that in the state she had been in, she wouldn't have found the strength to do it anyway. No, her pain had left her shattered, and she had no determination left.

Unfortunately for her loved ones, she had been too deep in her own sorrow to voice how she wasn't thinking of attempting to end her misery. Actually, she basically never talked about any of what she was feeling. She just swallowed all her thoughts and pain, internalizing deep inside of her more than simple grief.

At the end of it all, making them worry so much was one of her biggest regrets, because even if they at times overwhelmed her, Regina ended up being extremely grateful for their continuous presence. They were always there, understanding, full of patience and love, and despite the fact that she liked portraying this image of being invincible and a hundred percent independent, in that moment of her life, that was exactly what she needed.

She needed her mother, who stepped up and basically moved across the country to be with her, and she needed her best friend, who instead of berating her and forcing her out of bed, had just laid down with her and held her as she cried so hard her ribcage ended up hurting. And of course, there was also her father, who every single night for over a month had been the one patiently talking her into at least eating a few bites of her food.

That cycle dragged on and on for almost a month, guilt and pain eating her inside out. It only started to get better when she decided to do something she once swore never to do again. She dried her tears, got out of bed and told her parents she wanted to go back home with them.

Overall, it had all been bad. But that day, almost three years after it all happened, she could stand tall and say that after all her trials and tribulations, after all the pain and anger she had endured, she was not only whole again, but also happy.

She had her friends and family to thank for that, as they never left her alone in her darkest hour. But also, there was a very special person she couldn't forget when it came to giving credit to the people who helped her overcome what she considered to be the worst experience of her life.

He came in when her grief was starting to become a little more bearable, but when it was still so latent she could choke on it. She had been in some sort of limbo, but at the same time, she had been taking baby steps to get out of it.

She started reading a lot, she had been talking to both Mal and Tink on a daily basis and yes, after a ridiculous long period of total seclusion inside her parents' house, she was by then starting to reclaim her life back.

She would go grocery shopping every now and then, she would sometimes walk across town just to sit by the pier and stare at the ocean for what felt like days, and she even started looking for a job.

It took her several months after she made it back to her parents' house in Maine to get there, but that was exactly the time it needed to pass so that destiny could put _him_ back in her path.

To make a long story short, she was just going to say that this person was the one who pushed her into channeling her feelings into something she had given up long ago: music.

He was the one who made her feel like dusting off her cello so that she could start playing again, and as unbelievable as that would have sounded to her ears, playing the instrument she gave up the moment she left town at eighteen helped. It helped a lot.

That person was, of course, Robin, someone from her past who came when she least expected it and yes, the man that she was now happy to call her fiancé.

Now, things with Robin didn't progress as quickly as one would have expected out of two people with their past. Yes, he had the same pull on her as he once used to have, and she was sure he felt the same way. But back in those initial months, she hadn't been ready to break through the boundaries of friendship they had formed back in their teens.

He respected that. He never pushed, or overwhelmed her, or put any kind of pressure on her shoulders she wasn't ready to carry. She was fine with that, because in the darkness she was living in, she never intended for things to go further than what they were.

They were friends, nothing more, as they had always been. Or at least that was what she thought. But as always happened, life had other plans for her.

Falling in love with him had been an organic thing, the feeling crawling silently into her system without her knowledge. One day she was watching him play some old rock song on his guitar while softly humming along and the next thing she knew, she was thinking about how much she loved him.

Realizing that had been scary, but maybe it was something that should have happened long ago… years, even.

Who knew? If it would have gone that way, if she had followed her gut when she was sixteen and at a crossroads, maybe David would still be alive and she wouldn't have known how it felt to have her heart ripped right out of her chest.

But that was life: it was willful, and it worked in mysterious and sometimes cruel ways. It would twist and turn you in all possible directions, stretching and rolling you around until you ended up beaten and wounded. It would do this until you ended up right where you were supposed to be.

Maybe that was how she ended up with Robin. Maybe it was supposed to happen that way ever since the beginning. Unfortunately, she didn't pay attention to it when she should have, and the first time her stomach tingled while in his presence, she went and fixed things with David instead.

Now look at all of what happened because of that. David was dead, and destiny put Robin back in her path…

Regina wasn't sure if that was because this was what life wanted for her, or because her fate was tied to this man, but apparently, it should have always been Robin.

The power of that thought was overwhelmingly scary and she couldn't lie, giving into her feelings had been the most courageous thing she had ever done.

To accept her destiny, to open herself to love again… to heal… to let go of everything that had been slowly killing her inside and start living the life she was still allowed to have.

It took her months to accept it though, to come to terms with the fact that while David was dead, she wasn't, and that maybe it was time to start acting like it.

That was more or less what Mal told her when she couldn't hold it in anymore and ended up going to her with tears in her eyes and her heart lost about what she should do: "You could spend days, months, even years trying to put all your pieces back together, justifying what you could have done. Or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move on."

Regina didn't quite get what her friend meant with that so she asked, but Mal told her she didn't get it either. Her claim was that the great Tupac had said it… or at least something along those lines, so it had to make sense somehow.

' _Sorry, I'm really awful with love advice_.' The blonde replied with an exaggerated gesture when Regina looked at her in confusion.

Despite herself, Regina burst out laughing, and so did her friend. Then her tears morphed into something entirely different and for the first time in the last couple of years, she laughed until her belly ached.

It was then that she decided to be at peace with what was going on. She recognized what her destiny was, what it should have always been. That was how the next time she saw Robin, she grabbed the bull by the horns and kissed him.

He was surprised, she felt it in the way he tensed for a fraction of a second. But then his guitar was put down, her cello was moved out of the way, and in the middle of his empty bar, he kissed her back like it was meant to be.

The rest was history, and now Robin was no longer just the friend who would do anything to cheer her up and the only person with the uncanny ability to brighten her days. He became the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

She loved him, and he loved her. Only ten months had gone by since that breakthrough, since they kissed that first time, but she already wanted it all with him. She wanted to settle down, to have children (later on, though) and of course, she wanted to marry him. That was why she accepted his proposal and they ended up engaged.

Recently engaged, mind you, as the ring on her finger had barely been there for a week.

So yes, she was happy. She was finally in a place she felt she belonged, and she was embracing the feeling with everything that she had. Even during nights like this, when the two of them couldn't agree on something as simple as making dessert…

"You are doing it all wrong." She said, her eyes narrowing as she saw him crack another egg to add to the batter. "It says two eggs in the recipe, not three."

Flashing that irresistible dimpled smile that he would unashamedly use to get his way, Robin's head tilted to the side so he could get a better look at her. "Yeah, it says two large eggs and these… they are rather small, don't you think?"

Regina groaned, as she could kind of see his point, but she was stubborn and in denial. There was just no way she was going to admit that he could be slightly better at this than her, so clicking her tongue, she rolled her eyes in fake annoyance.

"Robin, that's not how baking works. Just… give me that, I'll fix it."

Taking away the bowl with the batter and thus preventing him from adding anything more to the mix, Regina's lips pouted almost petulantly.

In the wake of her abrupt movement, Robin snorted. "Okay! Then how does it work, since you are oh so savvy?"

Keeping her face as stern as she could, Regina shrugged. "It's not that I am savvy, but I think I know how to follow a recipe. You, on the other hand..."

Her words made Robin laugh in that entrancing way that would make her heart fill with the warmth of his whole aura, and she couldn't help but bite her lips to stop herself from smiling back at him.

She didn't want to do that because they were supposed to be serious about this. She had gotten into her head that she wanted to learn how to bake, and in her stubborn nature, that meant that she wanted to do it perfectly.

That had been her plan, and her expectations were high. But somehow they were making a mess out of something so simple, and as much as she was trying to play it cool, their inability to do things as they were supposed to be doing them was bugging the hell out of her.

She just didn't get it. They had the recipe and had been trying to follow it through, yet, what they had managed to do was make a mess out of everything.

There was flour and sugar everywhere, she somehow managed to spill the vanilla extract all over her shirt, and maybe they already ate half the melted chocolate…

The last one was Robin's fault, because without taking into consideration that they needed to leave some to follow the recipe, he had the not-so-great idea to smear some of it over her mouth so that he, in full playful mode, could kiss it off.

Regina had groaned and called him out for it, as she had been too focused on doing things right to quickly get into the mood he apparently wanted to put her in. But then, as it always happened, somehow, someway, she ended up letting him sweep her along.

That was how between soft snickers and deep kisses, they already wasted more than what they were supposed to.

That was without mentioning the strawberries. They had been munching on them as they made a very poor attempt at this little project, and now they were as good as gone.

That was going to be no more. The silliness and laid-back nature had to stop because she had all the best intentions in the world to do this right.

That was why she got all serious, her eyes narrowing and her lips set. "Anyway, we are back to business, so why don't you go and get more chocolate to melt? And please don't put it to waste this time."

"Waste? I would barely call what I did with it a waste-" With the corner of his lip tipping up, Robin grabbed the bowl from her hands and placed it on the counter.

He was obviously still feeling playful, so when he completely turned towards her and wrapped one of his arms around her, Regina couldn't help but to arch an eyebrow.

"Actually, to me it was a very necessary thing to do. That mouth needed to be kissed, and this chocolate was getting bored in there… it was so lonely. I just had to, you understand?" He ended up bringing her even closer, the palm of his hand closing over her hip bone.

Liking what he was doing despite the fact that he was being silly and making her forget about their little baking project, Regina snorted. "No, not really. So you had to do what, kiss me or eat the chocolate?"

Lifting a hand to her face so that he could brush her hair behind her ear, Robin smirked. "First one. It was actually top priority to kiss that pretty mouth of yours. Who knows, maybe I want to do it again."

He was smirking as he said that, his dimples on full display and his teeth sinking into his lip.

In a second, all her annoyance evaporated and she bit down a smile. What could she say? Every time he would talk to her so low and raspy, all of her senses would go on full alert mode. This was no exception.

Still, she played it cool, holding on to the need she had to give into him. "I can't say I am complaining about the kissing because it was… interesting, but I don't know. Nice as it was, in terms of finishing this cake? Yes, it was a waste."

"There's enough to finish it. There's even enough to spare for other… endeavors."

Lifting her chin so that she could stare deep into his blue orbs, Regina placed her own hand to his back, sliding it along his spine, her fingers tracing their way down until her palms came to rest over the small of his back.

"Really?"

Robin followed the movement, he even leaned into her a bit more, his breath brushing against her lips. "Really."

He was close, so close that the heat of his body was warming her own skin, and so close that the scent of him was dancing all around her. She could also feel how his thigh was starting to slide between her legs, and the sensation was alluring enough to make her bite her lip.

"Hmm, and what kind of endeavor are we talking about here?"

"Oh, just… nice ones, very pleasant." Robin reached for one of the few remaining strawberries to take a bite, smiling knowingly as his eyes remained glued to hers.

It was intense, that stare, so feeling tingly all over, her right hand moved down, settling on his ass.

"I think you should show me, don't you think? Maybe-" Her words were cut short, and before she could go on, Robin pressed what was left of his strawberry to her mouth.

He dragged it across her bottom lip, making her mouth open a little.

It was an invitation, so without thinking it too much Regina leaned forward and bit into it.

"You know," She started to say once she swallowed the fruit down and he was just there, teasingly standing too close. "Next time I want to learn how to do something new, I am doing it without you. You are way too distracting."

Snorting, Robin brought her a bit closer, using both of his arms to circle her waist. Her whole body gravitated towards him with the movement and she couldn't lie, it felt good.

"Oh, is that so?"

Without giving her time to respond, he closed the gap between them and pressed his mouth to hers.

At first it was only a peck, but when her lips parted and she sighed into the contact, he kissed her deeply, his tongue pressing and then pushing in so he could stroke it against hers. It was a slow thing, almost lazy, but it still made Regina hum in appreciation of the contact.

She couldn't help it. The music playing in the background and the feeling of him kissing her like this was too much. Slow as it was, there was something just so sensual about it that made her feel like melting in his arms.

It was always the same thing when it came to him, because among the many other things she had come to love about this man, the way he kissed her was probably one of the ones she liked best.

In fact, he and everything he did to her had become her biggest weakness, and no matter the circumstances or her mood, his mouth on hers was enough to change her entire demeanor.

He could calm her down, he could make her feel reassured, loved, wanted… and more often than not, kissing her was all he needed to do to bend her to his will.

He wanted to add another egg to the batter? Fine, let him. As long as he kept kissing her like that, who the hell cared?

She didn't, not anymore, and for a while, kissing him was all she did, her hands going into his hair while his body pushed hers against the counter. But then, when she was starting to get lost in the moment, he pulled away.

"Where are you going?" She breathed out, missing the sweet invasion of his tongue in her mouth.

By then, the song that had been playing ended and a new one began, with David Gilmour singing about being comfortably numb.

Biting his lip, Robin winked at her, reaching for the melted chocolate to bring it over. "Well, you wanted me to show you what kind of pleasant things we could do with this, and show you I shall. Just a little demo though, I don't want to be _too distracting_."

He started by smearing some of the sticky substance down the column of her neck, and he even ventured to put some of it down her cleavage, slowly unbuttoning her shirt so he could follow a path that led him to the curve of her breast. Regina just let him, her tongue pushing hard against her teeth and her eyes fixed on what he was doing.

"You are a bad influence to me, that's what you are. Here I am trying to bake, and you come and… make me lose my focus." There was no reproach in her voice. In fact, she was sure her tone came out sounding way too needy.

"And you hate it, huh?" He teased, lifting her up and taking her over to the table. Once there, he sat her down and accommodated himself between her legs.

The position made her face be a bit higher than his, so she took advantage of the moment to look down into his eyes.

It was almost entrancing, the depths of his stare like the ocean itself. "You know I don't."

Robin smiled, his dimples on display. "Good."

When he put his mouth to good use and started to lick and suck on her pulse point, her breathing sped up and her eyes closed.

She loved it. His lips nipping, his tongue slowly going over her skin, down to her clavicle and lower to the top of her breasts… it was all making her head start to swim.

By the time his hands moved down and started to crawl up her thighs, she was sold.

In that moment she was up for everything he wanted. He could have her right there and she wouldn't mind, but she was also ready to move things from the kitchen and make them happen in bed.

There, she could turn the tables and make him lie down. After stripping him of his clothes, she could use the chocolate on him. She could even visualize it… his body bare and in all its glory waiting for her.

If she wanted to, she could even hear him, groaning softly as she licked her way down his chest, over his ribcage, past his stomach and then slowly towards his pubic bone. He would be eager for her… and he would be anticipating her mouth on him so badly he would even ache.

"Mmm," She hummed, feeling a liquid heat settle down between her legs just by thinking of his raspy voice asking her to stop teasing and just take him into her mouth.

The image combined with the sensations he was provoking made her press her body closer to his, her groin rubbing against the hardness trapped inside his sweatpants.

Her goal had been to search for some friction, but she got double the reward when for a second, Robin moved his mouth to hers and kissed her long and deep.

His hands slid to her ass to give her a squeeze. He even pressed her closer to him, pushing against her core and sending a slight tremor down her spine. But as soon as the second was over, he slowly patted her hip and pulled away.

"You know what we should add to this? Chocolate chips, you think we have some?"

With that said, he walked to the fridge and started rummaging through it, probably in search of the damn chips.

For a moment, Regina just stared at him, her mouth slightly open and her eyes sparkling. With the way he was standing, she could see his profile and she could see him smirking, so she knew at once that he was aware of how he had left her high and dry.

He was playing with her, he had been doing it ever since he decided to go overboard with the chocolate, and he was loving it.

The tease...

It may be that they hadn't been together for too long, but he already knew how to push her buttons and he would use that to his advantage whenever he thought he felt like being playful.

With that said, he should also know that she was born lacking in the patience department, so the way she called him out shouldn't have come as a surprise.

"Robin Locksley, close that fridge and come back here."

Arching an eyebrow, the blue-eyed man pointed a finger at his chest. Then, with a look that was supposed to portray surprise, he smiled, his dimples fully showing. "Me?"

"No, I'm talking to the other Robin Locksley standing right behind you."

Her answer, and probably her sultry tone, made Robin chuckle, but it also made him close the fridge so he could walk to her.

Regina chose that moment to reach for him, her arms extending so she could grab and then pull at the waistband of his sweatpants.

Robin's eyes lowered down to what she was doing, and with a smile that screamed pure mischief, he moved in her direction.

He only looked up to her face when he was a step away from her. "Things? What kind of things?"

Biting her lip and making sure to keep her eyes on his, Regina shrugged. "Things that are better done than discussed. Come a little closer and I'll show you."

Robin sucked in a breath, and she knew right then that he wanted the same thing she did. She could also tell by the way he kissed her earlier and come on, by the way she could clearly see the outline of his erection inside his pants. But then when he took that step and closed the gap that separated them, eyes shining and his hands reaching for her hips to make them clash with his, he just gave her a little peck.

"Patience, love. We will do whatever you want to do and however you want to do it. But first, we will do this little baking thing. I'm not going to have us mess this thing up."

Shaking her head because she couldn't believe him, Regina let out a gasp. She was sitting over the table, legs spread, shirt unbuttoned and her libido blasting on full, and he wanted to bake? "Are you serious?"

Before she could make any other kind of protest, her phone started to ring. Robin took that moment to steal another quick kiss out of her mouth.

"I am." Then he was back at the counter, reaching for the bowl with the mix so he could keep doing what the recipe dictated.

Sighing because no, there was no way he was leaving things there, Regina licked her lips. "Let me answer this and then we'll settle this."

With that said, she grabbed the phone to see who it was. The number wasn't registered in her contacts, but she was used to receiving calls at all times of the day from people who were interested in the classes she was now providing. So no… not even once did she think that the call was odd.

It was crazy, as she wouldn't have imagined that there would be a high demand of people interested in subscribing their kids to her cello classes. But as it turned out, there was. At least, enough for her to be able to get by.

"Regina Mills speaking," She said absentmindedly, her eyes set on what Robin was doing. He was concentrating on reading the recipe to follow it through, and if it was possible, she loved him even more for it. Yes, she still couldn't believe he had teased her like that just to leave her hanging, but at the same time, she couldn't stop thinking that he was doing this baking thing, as ridiculous as it was, because she told him she wanted to do it.

In her mind, that spoke volumes about who this man was and the things he was willing to do to make her happy.

"Mills-" On the other side of the line, the person took a deep breath. Regina could hear it, that was how loud it was. "Last I knew, it was Nolan."

It was then that her own breath caught in her throat. At first instance, she thought it was James, and she was so ready to go off on him. How dare he call her? But then her entire world froze and her heart halted, because no… it wasn't James… this voice wasn't as grave as his. It was actually more laid back, smoother…

This was the voice of someone else, someone she also knew.

She should know because she had spent years listening to him. It started during her late teens, when they started dating and she basically centered her entire existence around him. It was the voice she had missed during their innumerable breakups, the one she had been able to love when they were on good terms, and later on, the one who swore at the altar to love and cherish her until death would tear them apart.

It was the voice of her deepest sense of guilt, of her repressed anger and her biggest sorrow, because the person that was calling, the one who came to destroy the life she was able to make for herself, was David… her supposedly deceased husband.

TBC?


	2. Caruso

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is second chapter, we are going slow but steady! Or so I hope! Thanks again to Morgan for the beta work, and Tiffany for taking the time to brainstorm with me!  
> I’m naming all the chapters after a song, this one is Caruso (cello version by Hauser), if you haven’t go and check it, it’s just stunning. Other than that, enjoy.

There was something incredibly fascinating about watching Regina play her cello. She only had to drag the bow across the strings once and that would be it for him, he would have to stop whatever he was doing so he could absorb each and every one of her graceful movements. 

Watching her was simply breathtaking, and it never failed to completely entrance him. He just loved everything that she did, from the way she would softly sway along with the deep resounding hum filling the air, to the way the fingers of her left hand danced expertly on top of the cello, and even how her features beautifully transformed into a mask of pure concentration, her eyes closed while the majestic instrument rested securely between her knees.

Maybe he was biased, but to him, this woman was the epitome of what perfection really was. Not only because of the aesthetics, but because she played beautifully as well. You couldn’t tell her so because she would argue that she was barely above average, but the truth was that Robin would never get tired of seeing her perform. 

He knew that because he had been seventeen years old when he first saw her manipulating those strings, and still he found himself completely awestruck by her. 

Back then, he had been nothing but a lousy lad who knew shit about life, but still, he had been aware that Regina Mills’ talent was a force that would stay in his mind for a very long time.

That was why he first approached her, because he needed to know who the girl making such incredible music was. He had been kind of bummed when he spoke to her though, because with all the attitude in the world, a sixteen-year-old Regina flat out told him that she hated playing. 

That was definitely not the answer he had been expecting and yes, he had to admit that he had been genuinely shocked. After all, he came from a family where everyone played at least two instruments and loved it, so the fact that she hated hers was inconceivable to him.

The Locksleys loved their music and their instruments, and they were not afraid to make that known.

It was in his aunt’s music camp that he met Regina for the first time. He had been there because his stupid ass got in trouble and his parents forced him to work there for an entire month. Apparently, they had wanted him to learn a lesson, and it consisted of enslaving him to a bunch of rich kids that needed to either be entertained for half the summer, or whose parents really wanted them to polish their musical talents.

At first he hated it, and his misery was evident for everyone who cared to see. Because yes, as much as he loved music, he had liked the idea of the freedom his first summer in the USA was supposed to provide even better. 

It ended up being not so bad. Sure, Storybrooke was no New York or Los Angeles, but the small town in Maine had its own magical charm. In the long run, going there was the best thing that ever happened to him.

It had been in that camp, and during that summer, that he met two of the most important people life could give him. Tink, the person who became his best friend, and Regina, who years later became his fiancé and the love of his life.

Now, things between them hadn’t exactly started on the right path for them to end up the way they did. Yes, he had only needed to look at the pretty brunette one time to know he was going to have it bad for her, but he had quickly learned she was very much taken and that had made him step back and approach her as just a friend. 

It had been Tink who broke the news about this boyfriend to him, because according to her, Robin just didn’t know how to look at Regina without making heart eyes. She had to intervene, letting him know all there was to know about the infamous David. 

When she described said guy, he knew he had no chance, because this boyfriend was apparently very charming, extremely good looking, smart, funny, and he had Regina wrapped around his little finger. 

Tink didn’t like the boyfriend, at all. She claimed that he kept Regina on her toes all the time and that just rubbed her the wrong way. If David liked her hair shorter, Regina would go and cut it, if he thought the cello was boring, she would go out of her way not to play it, and if David decided to put their relationship on hold so he could go spend the entire summer with his problematic twin brother, Regina would have no other option than to just step back and wait for him. 

They had broken up at least five times since they officially began dating, and according to Tink, that was simply unhealthy. Still, Regina was head over heels with him… and she was ridiculously stubborn, so she would turn a deaf ear whenever Tink would tell her to just dump him and find someone better.

_ “She should date you instead. I like you… and I think she kind of likes you too. Just look at her, she’s all smiles when she is supposed to be heartbroken over David dumping her for the summer, again. That’s on you, buddy.”  _

At the statement, Robin had snorted because right… as if Regina would ever like someone like him. But those words were maybe what made him bond with the blonde. Their complicity only grew from there, and they've become almost inseparable ever since.

So yes, knowing his limits, Robin pushed his infatuation over Regina aside and decided to just forget it. He was just seventeen and fulfilling his dream of moving to America, so he was not going to get bummed over the fact that the girl he liked had a boyfriend.

Instead, he decided to take just what she was willing to give: her friendship.

That part at least had been easy. For entirely different reasons, the two of them had been sent to music summer camp unwillingly by their parents, so they formed some sort of special bond that separated them from the rest of the group. They teamed up and tried to make the best they could of the situation and yes, he was proud to say they had a great time, even if it was by secretly defying all the rules his aunt imposed for the kids attending her camp.

Their favorite hobby had been sneaking out. They mostly did it by night, waiting until everyone was asleep so their adventures could go unnoticed. Sometimes Tink would join them, but most of the time she would make up an excuse to stay.

Robin didn’t mind, because as much as he liked Tink, he had been a little territorial when it came to those little moments when he could get Regina on her own. Sure, everything they did had been in a friendly way and he never overstepped, but it was during those nights that she would open up to him and he had loved that.

She would talk to him about her dreams, about her family and even at one point, she ended up confessing that she didn’t really hate the cello. She just didn’t like playing it because according to her, she looked dumb and people thought she was a geek.

Robin had understood at once who she was referring to when she said  _ people _ , so wising up and taking a page out of his own parents’ book, he told her she shouldn’t let anyone make her be any different than how she was. She was amazing, as a cello player and as a person, and whoever said otherwise was a dumbass.

That night, they had been in the back of an old pick-up truck, watching the stars and talking. When he told her that, Regina had looked at him with a mystifying glint in her eyes that left him completely speechless. 

For a wild moment, his brain got all messed up and he had been tempted to kiss her, and shit, her eyes told him that if he did, she would have kissed him back. 

He didn’t, though. He hesitated too long and just like that, the moment was gone. He knew it when Regina literally shook her head as if to gather herself, and then told him that he should teach her how to play the guitar. According to what she said right after that little lapse, at least that was a cool instrument to play.

He did, he started teaching her other instruments, even after summer ended, and just like that, the line of friendship was clearly drawn between them. 

Roughly two years after that night, Regina left town with David. She abandoned everyone and everything: her family, her friends… her cello. The two of them simply disappeared, eloping and settling on the West Coast. 

Robin only knew about her through Tink, who even with her friend marrying and apparently living the life, never warmed up to  _ Prince Charming _ , as she scornfully liked to call David.

_ “It should have been you.” _ Tink would say every time they touched on the subject, and yes… sometimes, when nostalgia would hit him hard and he was in a particularly rough place in life, he would agree.

Not like he put much thought into it. He had liked Regina, yeah, how could he not? She was pretty, talented, smart, and funny in her own way, but he couldn’t say that he had been in love with her. 

That came later, because as it happened, life had a funny and sometimes cruel way of putting things in place. In the end, destiny reunited them and yes, the two of them ended up falling hard for each other, but the road to get there was filled with tragedy.

When they found each other that second time, Regina had been recently widowed and extremely affected by it, so the situation was far from ideal. In fact, she had been emotionally destroyed, broken, and despite the fact that he was on Tink’s team and had never liked David, he genuinely felt bad about how their story ended. 

Back then, he had been recently out of a messy relationship himself. It was not quite the same as what she had been going through, but in a way, their heartbreaks had made it easy for them to rely on each other.

So yes, it started as a friendship, nothing more, nothing less, just a continuation of their teen years. But from there, things started to progress.

As the first few weeks turned into months, their time together increased. There were more calls, more clandestine looks passed between them, and what was even better, it was with him that she decided to dust off her cello and play again. 

They would spend hours in his bar when it was closed so she could practice, and as time passed, he even continued teaching her the guitar. 

With this newfound closeness and that way she had of entrancing him with a simple smile, things just began to change for him. Before he could even realize it, he fell for her. He tried to play it cool and keep what was in his heart hidden, but the truth was that his feelings for her grew a little bit more each day, and that was a thing hard to keep under the rug.

He kind of managed, but then, as he watched her flourish and get out of the hole she had been in, he reached a point of no return.

Maybe the moment hadn’t been right because Regina was still too affected by her husband’s death, but he knew what he wanted and this time, he was going to put himself out there and tell her. (When the time was right, of course).

So he waited for months… patiently… until one good day, she was the one who took that first step and kissed him.

He remembered the moment as clearly as if it had been the day before. The two of them were at his bar way before opening, like always, and while he strummed his guitar to an old tune he had been trying to teach her, she simply went for it, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him into a kiss.

From that moment on, the nature of their interactions quickly began to change. Their meetings became more frequent and less music-related. They also lasted longer and could drag straight into the next morning. There were also more calls, a lot of curious touches and yes, kissing.

It had been perfect, the transition from friends to lovers flowing in such an organic way that it felt like they had always been together as a couple. 

He proposed during that same summer, and after she said yes, they started living together. They had the perfect life, the perfect relationship, and he was ready to spend the rest of his life making her as happy as he could.

At least, that was what he wanted… and those had been his plans. But then again, destiny was nothing but a bitch and all of a sudden, everything they had created together started to crumble quickly.

He didn’t even know how or why this was happening, but as it turned out, David was not really dead and he was returning to town. He was actually coming back that same day.

Regina had been informed of that three days ago, and even though she was trying to put on a tough facade and pretend that she wasn’t affected by such news, he knew her too well and knew she was shaken to her very core.

She wasn’t sleeping, she was barely eating, and the fact that she was playing this particular piece before leaving to meet with her supposedly dead husband was very telling.

The sound was filled with melancholy and deep sorrow, the strings pouring forth an outburst of emotion through the notes she played. It was beautiful, just like everything she played, but at the same time, it was so ominous.

Robin couldn’t lie, he was scared out of his mind about this meeting she was about to have. Sure, Regina had been reassuring him nonstop about how much she loved him and that nothing and no one was going to change that, but there was always an ounce of doubt eating him inside out. 

Yes, there were a lot of loving words and indiscreet touches when they were laying in bed at night. But then when morning came, she would wake up all quiet and sullen and before he could ask her if she was alright, she would take off, claiming she needed a moment.

After that, she would lock herself in the bathroom, and even though she tried to hide it, he knew she would cry her eyes out in there.

She didn’t know that he knew about that, but he did. The same way he knew she had cancelled all her students’ classes for the week, and that sometimes during the night, she would sneak out of their bedroom so she could spend long hours staring at the hundreds and hundreds of photos she kept on her iPad. Photos of  _ them _ , of her and David and the happy years when they were together.

To Robin, all of that added up to nothing good, and as much as it was destroying him, he could feel her slipping through his fingers. This was  _ David _ after all, and everybody knew the strong hold he had always exercised over her.

He had seen it himself, because the Regina he met during summer was not the same person she was when she and David were ‘doing okay.’ She acted differently, she dressed differently, and she basically molded herself to whatever standard her boyfriend expected of her.

She also laughed a hell of a lot less, and that was something that hadn’t settled well with Robin. He told her once, during a rare opportunity when he got her alone between classes, but she got so mad at him that he never dared say it again.

That was how he was sure that after this meeting, he was pretty much done for. Maybe she was not going to blurt it out all at once, as her good heart would hate to break his, but in the end, the result would be the same.

Maybe it was not going to be that night, or the next one, but eventually, Regina was going to leave with David, and everything they had built would be no more.

It was devastating to think of it that way, and he was terrified of letting her go, but it was what it was, and he had to brace himself for the inevitable impact. 

It would come, whether he liked it or not. He knew it and feared it. But no… for now, he didn’t want to think about it. Now he was going to just enjoy listening to her play.

So he watched her, his eyes taking in her face as she was lost in the music. He also watched as if trying to memorize her expert movements, the way her eyelashes fell over her cheekbones, and the way her hair cascaded down her shoulders in soft waves. 

She was stunning, in every possible way, and he tried to drink in the image of her for as long as he could.

When she was done, her eyes opened as if in a daze and for a moment, he wondered if he should leave her alone. He was very much aware that she wasn’t having the best time and maybe she needed this moment to clear her head, alone.

His doubts dissipated though when, as if sensing him, Regina moved her face to the side. She looked at him, brown meeting blue, and despite the circumstances, she smiled.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were there.”

Forcing a smile of his own, Robin sighed. “I haven’t been here too long… I just came in and you were playing and, well-” He shrugged, not really knowing what else to say. “I didn’t want to interrupt. That was beautiful, Regina… really.”

Rolling her eyes as she did every time anyone would compliment her, Regina got to her feet. After that, she put her cello in its place and walked to him, the smile still on her lips.

Once in front of him, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her body to him. “I wouldn’t have minded the interruption.” Her voice was low, almost throaty, and Robin couldn’t lie, the sound of her voice like that did things to him.

That’s why he ended up grabbing her hips to pull her even closer. “If I had known, I would have interrupted-”

As soon as Robin’s words rolled off his tongue, Regina kissed him, her face tilting up so she could seek entrance past his lips.

He granted it, his own tongue moving against hers as she made the contact go deeper. For a while, they just kissed, his hands moving up her spine and then back to her hips.

Robin loved it. The way she felt, how she smelled, and the way her body would melt against him with every kiss. He also loved the way her hands would slide into his hair, her nails softly scraping over his skull while her tongue danced along with his.

He rarely liked to let his mind wander into the rabbit hole of what ifs, but in that moment, he knew it was as she once told him: they should have been doing this since they first met. 

If they had done it that way, he probably wouldn’t have to send her into the arms of a man who was probably going to take her away. He should have kissed her on that night so long ago… he should have made her see how they were better together than she and David ever could be.

But he didn’t kiss her, he lost his chance and now this was how things were. She was going to go… in fact, she shouldn’t even be there, as she was running a little late. That was why, getting a hold of himself, he ended the kiss with a soft peck to her mouth. “I’m telling you, if you don’t go now, I’m not going to let you leave this place.”

Letting her hands fall to his shoulders, Regina blinked her eyes open. She looked at him, her eyes a liquid brown capable of ripping his heart into a million pieces. “Then don’t let me. I want to stay here…  _ with you _ .”

Sucking in a shaky breath, Robin pressed his forehead to hers. Truth be told, he would like that very much. In fact, if it was up to him, they would stay there forever. They would live in their own bubble, with no David and nothing that could disrupt their love.

But they couldn’t, just like she couldn’t skip this meeting.

She knew that, which was probably why instead of kissing him once again, she just hugged him tight. “You know I love you, right?”

Robin nodded, swallowing drily while he reciprocated the embrace. He didn’t want to see it this way, but to him, what she was doing was basically sending him off with a farewell hug. A consolation prize, if you will, and the thought was just too much for him to bear.

He ended up slightly shaking, the effort of holding back his emotions too much for him to handle. His heart even began beating so hard he was sure it was going to explode.

But he needed to get a hold of himself, so he did. “And I you, more than anything. That’s why I want you to promise me something.” He stopped there, taking a deep breath so he could have a very much needed moment. What he was going to say was the most difficult thing he had ever had to do in his life, and he wanted to do it right. That was why before Regina could ask what it was, he went on, his muscles tensing and his voice slightly wavering. “There is nothing... and I need you to understand this,  _ nothing... _ in this world that I want more than seeing you happy. That’s why no matter what happens… I need you to do whatever your heart tells you. If it’s not me, then it isn’t, okay? You don’t owe me anything... definitely not staying...”

Pulling away and looking at him through wide, glassy eyes, Regina gasped. It made his heart completely crack. “What are you talking about? Robin-”

“Just promise me.” Blinking rapidly and holding on so he wouldn’t end up choking on his own words, he ran his knuckles down her cheek. 

Furrowing her brows and then blowing out a breath, Regina grabbed his face to kiss him. “I promise you that I will deal with whatever there is to deal with, and then I’m coming back home, to you. That’s where my heart belongs. Now come here and kiss me before I go, you silly.”

Blowing out a breath, Robin kissed her, sliding his hands into her hair and cradling her head. He wanted to believe the words she just said, and for a while he did. That was how he was able to go through his day feeling more or less relieved. 

But at four o’clock, almost five hours after she left, she hadn’t returned yet and his thoughts started to wander, traveling to places he would rather not visit.

He tried not to think about it, but the clock kept ticking and he began to worry.

When he finally gave up and called her, there was no answer. It rang and it rang and... nothing. 

By six, his heart was in complete distress. Yes, he could understand if she missed his call for whatever reason, but why wasn’t she calling back?

It was late already...

By seven, his entire world stood still and then collapsed because really, who had he been trying to fool by thinking she was going to come back? This was David- her husband, the one her heart really belonged to and the one she already abandoned everything for…

If she once left her family, her friends and her music for David, what would stop her from leaving him as well?

Still, he hoped with everything he had that she would come back as she had promised. Even if it was for the night, even if it was to say goodbye. Because as much as it was breaking his heart, he needed to see her, to at least have the illusion that she cared enough to come and tell him face to face that she was leaving.

That’s why he waited, compulsively biting his nails as he sat on the couch, his chest tight and his soul shattering. 

But then, when the clock hit nine o’clock, he knew… he could even feel it in his gut. Because whether his heart wanted to admit it or not, he just lost the woman he loved.

TBC


End file.
